Luke Wright may have boarded the plane for Colombo as one of England's peripheral players. Universally liked in every dressing room that he inhabits – and he has inhabited a few when playing Twenty20 cricket – his form in the warm-up matches then demanded his inclusion in the best side. After this knock of 99 not out in 55 balls in England's opening match of the tournament, which ended in a 116-run victory over Afghanistan, he is now the pivotal man – just like the one he succeeded at No3 in T20 World Cups.

Thanks to Wright England's first outing was soon devoid of any tension. Their total of 196 for five was more than enough to pitch Afghanistan out of a tournament which has not offered much joy to the outsiders. England's out-cricket was, at times, ruthlessly breathtaking as they cruised to a victory of mammoth proportions. Afghanistan lost by 116 runs, Zimbabwe are on the way home too and both Ireland and Bangladesh will have to up their games markedly to have a chance of making the Super Eights. This outcome means that when England take on India it is merely a question of momentum rather than qualification.

"We had lots of lapses in fielding and have to rectify that as soon as possible if we want to compete on this stage against tough opponents," said the Afghanistan bowler Shapoor Zadran, "Against champion sides, you have to be perfect in all three departments."

Shapoor was responsible for England having a far from ideal start to their innings, delivering a wicket maiden after the last delivery of his first over cannoned from the inside of Craig Kieswetter's bat on to the stumps. After four overs England had a paltry 15 runs on the board. The wicket was looking unreliable while England's players in their dug-out were looking mighty anxious.

The fifth over – from Shapoor – eased those nerves. The first ball beat the bat of Alex Hales but sailed over the head of the wicketkeeper, Mohammad Shahzad, for four byes. Thereafter the runs flowed from the bat culminating in a superbly driven six by Wright to take the tally from that over to 23. Hales gained in confidence with fine straight drives against Dawlat Zadran and England were on their way. After the end of the powerplay they were an acceptable 52 for one. The advent of some low-slung spin checked England for a while; so did the unfortunate departure of Hales, who was run out at the non-striker's end after a drive from Wright was deflected on to the stumps by Karim Sadiq.

Eoin Morgan took some time to find his timing but that did not matter too much since Wright, the Pietersen replacement at No3 and already a star in Melbourne in the Big Bash, was now striking the ball with awesome power. There were six mighty sixes. Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow thrashed away to good effect and Wright took two runs from the last ball to end one short of a century.

"I suppose there's always disappointment not to finish with a hundred," Wright said, "but if I'd been offered that this morning, I'd have snapped anyone's hand off. I was just so tired by the end, I was just happy to keep the board going. The most important thing was we got a big total and I think scoreboard pressure really told then."

England, in an invincible position, proceeded to give a stunning performance in the field. The fast bowlers banged the ball into the pitch and the wickets fell. However, there were two brilliant pieces of out-cricket in the seventh over. First Buttler dived to his right at midwicket, snatched the ball and threw it unerringly back to the bowler Broad. That was very good. Bairstow's catch at long leg to the next delivery was even better. Both Buttler and Bairstow are handy wicket-keepers; they are even better fielders.

Those two moments alone were worth the entrance money but once again there were rows and rows of empty seats – the group stages of this tournament do not appear to have captured the imagination of the citizens of Colombo. Here, at least, it is possible for punters to walk up unlike at Hambantota or Pallekele, which are located in the hills away miles from any significant population base, a sad but increasingly frequent phenomenon of cricket grounds around the world.

The shortage of spectators cannot really be attributed to the sort of high prices encountered by English supporters during the Test series here earlier in the year. Then it cost around £25 for a day at the cricket. Tickets for the match between England and Afghanistan cost approximately 14p. Maybe the locals have got it right after yet another one-sided match. It's best to wait until Super Eights.